DoD News

News Article

Insurgents Attack Again From Eastern Mosul Mosque

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2005  For the second straight day, insurgents firing from a mosque in eastern Mosul targeted multinational forces in Iraq, military officials in Baghdad reported today.

Task Force Olympia soldiers with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Combat Team), were patrolling when their convoy came under attack by insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades and small arms from the Rashan Mosque.

Insurgents had attacked multinational forces and Iraqi security forces from the same mosque Jan. 14. No injuries were reported from the either attack.

Iraqi security forces have increased the number of troops in northern Iraq in an effort to provide "enhanced security and stability for the Jan. 30 elections," officials said. About 4,000 Iraqi security forces, including Iraqi National Guard soldiers, are in the Mosul area. The ING has been folded into the regular Iraqi army.

In Mosul today, soldiers of the 106th Iraqi National Guard detained six people suspected on insurgent activity and confiscated weapons and ammunition.

Military officials in Baghdad said in a written statement that "with each seizure and removal of dangerous weapons and detention of anti-Iraqi insurgents, the situation is becoming safer."

In news elsewhere, three suspected insurgents were detained in a raid on a house in Abayach, near the site where an improvised explosive device was found Jan. 14. A search of the house uncovered insurgent propaganda and a possible IED detonator. The suspects were taken to Multinational Force Iraq detention facilities.

The 2nd Iraqi Ministry of the Interior Commando Battalion detained another suspect in a raid near Samarra. The commandos confiscated two AK-47 assault rifles, a submachine gun and five AK-47 magazines in the raid. The detainee was taken in for questioning.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, coalition forces recovered two weapons caches Jan. 14. The first contained three RPG launchers, three RPGs, an RPK machine gun and an AK-47. The second cache contained four 25 mm anti-aircraft gun barrels, four 25 mm receivers and 130 cans of ammunition with 32 rounds per can. Both caches were turned over to Afghan police.